A Western Memory
Amanda King entered her fiancé’s apartment with a slight bit of trepidation. Lee had left her house a few hours earlier, right after the Christmas Eve festivities had died down and Joe had finally left. She smiled at the fact that for someone who didn’t want to go to her house in the first place, he sure stayed the longest. He had made her promise to sneak out of her own house after everyone had gone to bed, but not before midnight, so that they could exchange their Christmas presents.
Amanda had tried to get him to just come over in the morning, but he had insisted they celebrate Christmas alone, and he wanted to be the first one she celebrated the holidays with this year. He had promised that he would have her home in time, before the boys had woke up and were ready to open the packages that ‘Santa’ had left the night before.
Amanda knew that he knew that her boys were old enough now that the mystery behind Santa was no longer a secret. However, she had agreed, because truthfully, the idea of celebrating Christmas with the Agency’s biggest humbug was something of a treat.
So, with excitement about exchanging gifts with her soon-to-be husband, Amanda had stopped by the Q-Bureau to pick up the gift she’d left there. She couldn’t wait for Lee to open it. She had actually bought this gift a few months back, not long after the incident with Thomas Blackthorne.
Entering the apartment, Amanda looked around and was amazed at what she saw. The apartment was decorated with bits of green and red everywhere, including a small Christmas tree, complete with tinsel and red and green Christmas balls. She turned around and as she closed the door, a bit of green above her head caught her eye: Mistletoe.
Suddenly a pair of strong arms enveloped her and she turned around. “Merry Christmas, Lee.” The only response she got was a long passionate kiss from her fiancé.
“If this is what I have to look forward to at Christmas ever year, then I don’t think I’ll ever put my name down on the duty roster again.” Lee whispered as he reluctantly removed his lips from his fiancée’s.
Amanda wrapped her arms around his neck and replied by giving him another, lingering kiss.
“If we keep this up, we’ll never exchange our gifts and I really can’t wait to give you yours.” Lee commented as he removed his arms from around Amanda’s waist and removing her somewhat heavier than normal purse and placing it on the table by the door, began helping her out of her coat. “What do you have in there anyway?” He asked, nodding towards her bag, as he hung her coat on the coat rack.
Amanda smiled. “Just something I picked up from the Agency on the way over here.”
“Amanda,” Lee stared at his fiancée with wide eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t bring work with you?”
Amanda laughed. “Of course not silly. Remember I told you I’d left my gift for you in the Q-Bureau.”
Lee let out a long breath. “Of course. You had me worried there for a moment.” He smiled as he turned and began walking towards the tree.
Amanda opened her purse and pulled out Lee’s gift, and then followed him into the other room. She couldn’t help but smile at the fact that someone who moaned about Christmas was suddenly even more in the spirit than she was. He was almost like a little kid on Christmas morning, which made her even more excited for him to open her gift to him.
Lee sat down on the floor and patted the space beside him. As soon as Amanda had joined him, he reached under the tree and pulled out a beautifully wrapped box, and passed it eagerly to his fiancée. “I have a confession, I didn’t wrap it.”
Amanda smiled as she stared at the package in wonder. It was way too big to hold a scarf, and she eagerly began tearing off the paper. With the paper removed, she opened the box and discovered a layer of tissue paper with a gold envelope on top. She glanced up curiously at Lee. “You didn’t wrap this yourself?”
Lee chuckled at the very confused expression on his fiancée’s face; an expression that only Amanda could pull off. “I asked the lady at the gift wrap counter to place that in before she wrapped it.”
Knowing that her husband wasn’t much into Christmas, Amanda had to believe that Lee really hadn’t wrapped the gift himself, otherwise, she had a feeling that there would have been about thirty pieces of tape and mismatched lines. Removing the envelope, she gingerly opened it and pulled out the card. The front had a single red rose, and nothing else. Lifting the front, she read the hand written inscription.
‘I’ve never been very good with buying gifts, but I knew that I had to do something special for the woman who owns my heart. So, I got us tickets to a night at the Kennedy Center, reminiscent of our very first date, even though at the time, we would never have admitted that it was really a date. The tickets are for New Year’s Eve, and I plan on ringing the New Year in with the one person I want to spend the rest of my life with.
With all my heart…
… and all my love,
Lee’
Wiping the tears of love from her eyes, Amanda gazed up at Lee. For the first time in a very long time, she found herself speechless.
Lee leaned forward and whispered, “I meant every word,” he then placed a kiss at the corner of one eye, wiping away that tear and then repeated the gesture on the other. Once he had cleared away the tears, he kissed her gently on the lips. “Now, open the rest.”
Amanda placed the card on the floor beside her, then began removing the tissue paper. Underneath the red, she found a beautiful navy blue, velvet dress. Lifting it out of the box, she realized just how elegant it was, and her eyes fell on the designer label. “Oh Lee, I love it, but this is too expensive…”
Lee gently laid a finger on her lips. “Hush. It’s something I know you’d never buy for yourself, and when I saw it on the mannequin, I knew it had to belong to you.”
“Thank you,” Amanda leaned forward and kissed him, with all the love and gratitude she felt. Feeling her fiancé responding, and when Lee placed a hand on either side of her face, she pulled away. “I still have to give you your gift.”
Lee leaned back and tried to hide his eagerness, but was failing miserably. It’d been a long time since he had a real honest to goodness Christmas present. Not that the sweater from Dotty hadn’t been nice, there was just something wonderful about opening a present from someone who knew you, really, knew you.
Amanda watched anxiously as Lee ripped off the paper, and then as he tore off the box lid, she gazed up at his face, eager to see his reaction.
Lee pulled aside the tissue paper and suddenly felt like he was five years old again. Inside the box was something he hadn’t seen in years. Pulling out the cowboy vest, he gingerly ran his finger over the ‘Official Roy Roger’s Sheriff Badge.’ Looking back in the box, he laid the vest aside and picking up the toy pop gun, glanced up at Amanda. “How? Where?”
“Well obviously the vest isn’t authentic, but it was the closest to what Roy wore that I could find. I mean, they didn’t make the Roy Roger’s outfits in adult sizes.” Amanda couldn’t contain her grin at Lee’s reaction. It wasn’t often that she, the queen of flustered, actually managed to fluster the mighty Scarecrow. “The badge and gun I found at an antique store.”
“But how did you know? I only remember mentioning the cap gun to you like two days ago?” Lee had taken his eyes off of his fiancée, and was now running his fingers affectionately over the handle of the toy gun.
“Actually, it wasn’t long after you started sharing memories with me of your parents. You told me about how you loved to play cowboy.” Amanda smiled as Lee gazed up at her with amazement. Shrugging, she continued, “Anyway, I happened to be with on a shopping trip with Mother, and she needed to go to an antique store. The minute I saw it, I just knew I had to get it for you.”
Lee leaned forward and, with the gun still in his hand, wrapped his arms around his fiancée. “Thank you.”
“Merry Christmas, Lee.” Amanda returned the embrace. “How about I let you play with that for awhile, I want to go try on my dress… make sure it fits.”
Lee grinned. “Oh trust me, it’ll fit, but go ahead and try it on. I’m dying to see you in it.” Removing his arms from around Amanda, he watched as she picked up the box with the dress and then made her way towards the bedroom. Eager to see her in the dress, and knowing that if she looked even half as good as he expected her to, which was about three hundred times better than the mannequin, that dress wasn’t going to stay on for long.
Not wanting his thoughts to travel down the wrong path too quickly, Lee placed the gun on the floor and picked up the vest. Slipping his arms into the sleeve holes, he picked the gun back up and then rose to his feet. Walking over to the mirror in the front hall, he stood in front of it, admiring the badge. The only thing missing was the cowboy hat, but staring at himself, he suddenly felt like a kid again. Stepping back, he aimed the gun at the image in the mirror and shot off a few rounds. “Gotcha sucka’!”
“I should hope you got him. Even if you weren’t Agency trained, to miss at that close a range would just be sad.”
Startled, Lee dropped the gun on the floor and turned to stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed at his fiancée. Then, as he took in the sight of her in the gown, his shock turned to awe. “I was wrong. That dress wasn’t just perfect, it was made for you. You look beautiful.” He took a step towards Amanda and then, hearing and feeling the crunch at his feet, he stopped and quickly took a step back.
Amanda followed Lee’s gaze to his feet. There, where Lee’s foot had just been was what remained of the cap gun. Rushing forward, she joined Lee as he knelt down. “Oh, Lee. I can’t believe you broke it.” Her tone wasn’t mad, or angry, it was merely disappointed, and not for herself, but for her fiancée. She reached out her hand and laid it over his arm. “It might take awhile, but I’m sure I can track down another one.”
Seeing the look of disappointment on Amanda’s face, Lee gave a sympathetic smile. “Don’t feel bad Amanda…”
“But I didn’t get you anything else…” Amanda began to protest.
Lee shook his head. “They always say it’s the thought that counts, and I’ll remember this as the best present I’ve gotten in a long time. Besides, to be truthful, this one lasted a lot longer than my first one. That one I’d barely gotten out of the box before it fell apart. The cap guns Bernie makes… made, last a hell of a lot longer.” He pointed to the remnants of his Christmas present, “It’s one of the reasons these didn’t stay on the market for long.” Picking up the pieces, he stood back up. With his empty hand, he reached out and helped his fiancée to her feet as well.
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?” Amanda asked a bit dubiously.
Lee shook his head. “Honestly, I’m not.” Placing the pieces on the table under the mirror, he turned to look at his fiancée, “I loved the gesture, and I might even be able to glue that back together. It doesn’t look too smashed.” Running his finger along the neckline of her dress which rested very nicely just above the vee of her breasts, his eyes grew dark. “And you’re very wrong about not getting me another present.”
“I was?” Amanda swallowed hard. The mere touch of Lee’s fingers on her bare skin always sent warm heat rushing through her.
Lee nodded as he bent just enough to slip one arm around her shoulders, and another under her legs. “I have you, and there’s no other present I want to unwrap more.” Before she could respond, he captured her lips passionately, and carried her towards the bedroom to ring in Christmas just the way they both deserved.
End
Story Notes:
Disclaimers: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Production Company. I have borrowed the characters without the permission of WB & Shoot the Moon. This story is for entertainment purposes ONLY, and I do not wish to use this story to profit off of the borrowed characters. This story, however, is copyrighted to the mentioned author.
Timeframe: Set during the series, but right after the end of “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag”; in essence a tag extension for the episode. “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag” was written by Lloyd Pye.
Author’s Note: This story was written because of a challenge line issued on an SMK website. The challenge line that had to be used was “I can’t believe you broke it!” Thanks to JanG for betaing this for me.
Timeframe: Set during the series, but right after the end of “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag”; in essence a tag extension for the episode. “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag” was written by Lloyd Pye.
Author’s Note: This story was written because of a challenge line issued on an SMK website. The challenge line that had to be used was “I can’t believe you broke it!” Thanks to JanG for betaing this for me.